It is the summer of 1952, and the Korean War has settled into a bitter and deadly stalemate along the 38th Parallel. In disfavor with his CIA superiors, Jim Colling has been reassigned as an infantry officer, and sent to the front lines in Korea, where it is not long before he finds himself in the midst of a Chinese "human wave" assault. While Colling is recovering from wounds received in the attack; his old friend, Colonel Quarles, calls on him to rescue a Congressman's son from a Communist Chinese prisoner of war camp in Manchuria. Colling once again must bring all his experience and talent for deception to what may be the most difficult and dangerous task he has yet faced.